1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the sealable container art and more particularly to a sealable urine specimen cup.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The collection of urine for examination and testing for the presence of chemicals which may be in the urine is a standard medical procedure utilized in medical examinations for a variety of purposes and in a variety of fields. One of the fields in which the use of testing urine specimens has increased is in the sports and related fields wherein athletes are often required to provide urine specimens for testing so that the presence of prohibited substances may be detected. In certain sporting events such as the Olympic Games, a vast number of urine specimens are collected and tested for the many athletes competing therein. In such events as well as in other sports related testing of urine specimens, it is imperative that the integrity of the specimen, once collected, be maintained so that there is no opportunity for a misidentification of the person providing the urine specimen or the contamination of the sample during the testing process.
Since during the testing process it is often required that portions of the urine specimen be removed from the specimen cup over a period of time, it is necessary to provide a urine specimen cup wherein small portions of the urine sample in the cup may be removed at various times but the contents of the cup between the times of sample removal be maintained in a sealed condition to prevent contamination and also that the specimen cup itself have a positive indication that the contents of the cup have not been tampered with or changed. Further, it is often been shown to be required that a portion of the urine in the original specimen cup be maintained so that further testing of the specimen in the event of a challenge to the accuracy of the first tests may be done.
Typical urine specimen cups generally include a liquid containing cup portion and a removable lid for the cup portion. After the urine is placed in the cup portion, the lid is connected thereto, usually by a conventional threading engagement, a snap on engagement or other engagement devices which provide a sealed specimen cup once the lid is installed. When it is desirable to remove a small portion of the urine for the various tests, in many prior art specimen cups the entire lid was removed and the desired amount of urine is removed from the cup portion and the lid then reinstalled. In other tests, various testing probes are inserted into the urine in the cup to determine the reaction of the urine to the particular test probe. Such arrangements have often led to either contamination of the specimen or charges that, once the cup was at the testing facility, the contents were changed or the sample mixed or contaminated. Further, the integrity of any portion of the urine specimen left after the first testings was called into question since it was not heretofore possible to provide an insurance that the lid had not been removed and the contents contaminated or other wise not as originally contained in the specimen cup.
Also, in many prior art urine specimen cup arrangements, the entire lid of the cup had to be removed completely before access to the urine sample contained therein could be achieved. In such arrangements, it has often been found that the urine in the cup had splashed onto the inside of the lid of the cup and when the lid was removed, the urine from the lid spilled or splashed onto the person removing the lid. Therefore, protection of the person performing the tests from urine spills as well as maintaining the integrity if the urine specimen and preserving the integrity of the specimen in the cup after the conclusion of the testing are desiderata sought in the medical profession.
Thus, it has long been desired that there be provided a urine specimen cup from which the small amounts required for testing may be withdrawn or otherwise used at various times, that the specimen cup be sealed between each instance of removal or use of the small test samples from the cup, and that an indication be provided at all times after the sample of urine is placed in the cup that the lid has not been removed so the integrity of the sample remaining in the cup cannot be questioned. It is also desired that the person withdrawing the urine from the cup or otherwise using the urine in the cup for testing be protected from spills or splashes of the urine.